


Chase Without Vision

by merin_b



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Character Development, Consensual Sex, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Post-Mass Effect 3, Relationship Development, Shepard Survives, dorks in luv, i love me som flyboy, joker x oc because jeff deserves more love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:35:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7418224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merin_b/pseuds/merin_b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the defeat of the reapers, a new threat arises. Commander Shepard and his crew set course for a new mission to deal with the upcoming evil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Home_.

The soft humming sound of the engine being warmed up. The happy chatter of his crew whilst preparing for their next big mission.

 _His_ crew.

The people who stood by him during his fight against the reapers without questioning his decisions. The fight they won, the mission they completed, after all the sacrifices they've made for their galaxy and their people. Some had stood by him much longer than that; Saren, the collectors.

And now he was back. _Alive_. With new scars added to the tale. Luckily, the happiness and gratefulness of being alive to tell the tale overshadowed the damage he'd suffered.

He'd gotten another chance. Truth be told, he'd expected to settle down somewhere with Kaidan, somewhere nice and quiet preferably. Who was he kidding, though? They belonged on and _to_ the Normandy. This was their home. The crew was their family. He was content and so was his Kaidan.

It took only 6 months; John had made up his mind long before that, but everyone needed to go visit their homes and make sure their family was doing okay. Maybe take some time to mourn, if they didn't have any left. After that, he got the all clear from Hackett and send out word to his crew.

To his surprise, everyone had gathered that same day.

They threw a party to pass the time; the _Normandy_ was yet to make it through the inspection—she was being upgraded and polished. It was nice, seeing everyone and talking to them without the pressure of having to save the entire galaxy.

Now, here he was, standing in the CiC. He was waiting for Joker to give the signal. They were still loading up the cargo with supplies.

 _Home_.

The soft humming sound of the engine being warmed up. The happy chatter of his crew whilst they were preparing for their next big mission.

He looked around; smiling contently at the sight of everyone settling in on their old positions. Liara passed by him and offered him a smile, which he happily returned.

Traynor interrupted his trail of thoughts. "Commander, Admiral Hackett is ready for the debriefing." she informed, gesturing to the direction of the war room. John nodded in response. "Alright, patch him through."

Once arrived in the comm room, he pressed the button and was welcomed with the sight of Hackett in his old uniform. "Commander." he greeted formally, his hands behind his back and his expression non-revealing as ever. John had to admit, he was curious what their next mission would be, although he was grateful doing anything at this point. It didn't matter. As long as he was on his ship serving with the best crew in the entire galaxy, he was happy enough to do anything.

"Admiral Hackett. Good to see you, sir." John said, saluting him while speaking his words. The Admiral nodded. "Good to see you're back on your old station, Shepard. Glad you pulled through after everything. Shame we couldn't meet in person, although I heard you had other matters to attend."

John smiled and nodded. "Visited London and Vancouver, sir. Major Alenko and I helped to rebuild after being fired from the hospital. I had luck on my side; the damage wasn't at greatly as I'd feared."

Hackett seemed to ponder his words. "You're a tough son of a bitch, Shepard. Good to have you back on our side. Now, the mission." A brief silence. John waited patiently for him to gather his words. "I'm afraid this isn't a small thing we're dealing with, Shepard. While the council is busy repurposing themselves into galaxy affairs, I'm afraid there are.. some serious threats going on within the systems. We're not sure who or what yet, but let's just say, there's a big chance the bad guys are part of the Alliance."

John frowned. " _Sir?_ "

Hackett closed his eyes and massaged his temples, a defeated sigh escaping his lips. "John, someone is trying to build a bionic army of some kind. We suspect they are leftovers from Cerberus, but we can't get a clear location on them. But, they have information. Classified information that's specific Alliance intel. Noone could ever possibly hack into this—we suspect they are working from inside the Alliance. There's currently an investigation going on, but we have to be careful since it could be anyone on our station.

"We have some of the names of the.. special biotics. Some have already been abducted, some are from Cerberus themselves but escaped, like your friend Jack, for example. I need you to find the next person on the list to prevent this from happening. She might know more, and she'd be hell of an asset to your team. I sent the full report through this commlink to your private terminal. That way, noone should be able to be track it and it wouldn't look suspicious."

John swallowed. This was a lot to take in. Biotic army. _Cerberus_. Infiltrators. _Can't we ever have something normal and non-threatening for once?_ But then again, John and his team were pretty darn good at saving everyone.

" _Right_. I'll check out the files. Any suggestions on where to start looking, sir?" John wondered, pacing nervously in front of the comm.

Hackett seemed to think on this. "Ask your friend Garrus. I believe the biotic in question and him are familiar with one another. She's somewhere on Omega, but.. she's hard to find.. thanks to her.. _abilities_.."

"Sir—her abilities?"

"She's a bloody _shapeshifter_ , Shepard." 

 

_**\--A Back Alley, Somewhere in Omega--** _

 

"I told you, I need that loan." 

"And I told you, to piss the fuck off, you _moron_." 

The armored figure smirked. His lips twitched, his scars making a more threatening impression in the dim lights. "Now, is that any way to talk to the biggest gangbanger in the galaxy?" To prove the point, he inspected his pistol, causing the man in front of him to form a lump in his throat. "Mister _Wyatt_? O my, I—I didn't recognize you for a minute. Must be the lightening." he chuckled nervously, raising two hands as if he wanted to surrender. 

"What, my gracing beauty ain't enough to prove the point? Now, how about that loan?" Wyatt muttered impatiently, causing the man opposite him to flinch under his gaze. "Y- _yes_ , ofcourse! I'll give you a bonus. H-here, let me transfer it to the chit, should only take a minute." 

Wyatt rolled his eyes. _It better fucking be._

The nervous man took the chit in his hands. "Here, all done. Pay back whenever. N-no need to rush."

He offered Wyatt the chit and a forced smile. Wyatt growled. "Good. Now get the fuck out of here before I'll coat the walls with your brains." 

The men shrieked and ran away, leaving Wyatt alone with the chit in his hands. He double checked, and suddenly his body started glowing as if it were filled by biotics. The old man's body morphed into a young female's one. 

Zira flipped her long black hair over her shoulders and stretched her tiny curvy body. A few crackling noises followed.

" _Dipshit_." she muttered to noone in particular, aimed at the younger man who'd trembled before her a few minutes ago.

She tucked the chit in her pockets and made way towards _Afterlife_. She skipped the line, the bouncer giving her a firm nod as she entered. The protests aimed at her made her smirk and she set course towards the bar to get herself a drink. After that, she walked the steps and let herself fall down on the couch next to Aria, who watched her with raised eyebrows and hidden interest.

Aria noticed the expensive cocktail in her hands and sighed heavily. "The fuck did you do now, _Mad_?" 

Zira chuckled at Aria's petname for her—her real name was Madison, but noone needed to know that. She was nobody. Just a face in Omega. 

They didn't pay attention to Zira, although she was the reason behind many quarrels and misunderstandings in the lower districts. Sometimes she would help someone—not the good kind, the bad kind. Hell, she was naturally a true con artist. The only logical purpose she'd found in her ability, unlike those Cerberus fuckers who wanted to turn her into—

 _No_. That was in the past. There was no need to bring up that bullshit now.

"Well.. Wyatt might have gotten himself a shitload a cash just now." Zira confessed.

Aria looked humored, although she sensed something else in her expression. Worry? 

"Kid, you just fucked with the Eclipse general. Michael's death will be on your hands, you hear?" They'd known eachother for 2 years, although it had taken them a long time to become actual friends and trust eachother; Zira had found Aria too narcissistic, whereas Aria found Zira too careless. And yet, they'd been drawn to eachother in some sort of way.

"Don't you fucking ' _kid_ ' me when I'm 24. I thought you were always about sacrificing for the greater good?" 

Aria rolled her eyes.

"Shit happened. _Shepard_ happened. The douchebag softened me."

Zira snorted.

"And that stays between us, by the way." Aria quickly added, pointing at her as if she'd already seen the future.  "Noone needs to know that." 

The suspect in question held up her hands with a smirk. During that exact moment, Bray walked up the steps towards Aria. "Someone here to see you." he announced, gesturing at the small party behind him.

Aria sat up straight and smiled devillsly at the man in armor in front of her. 

"Commander Shepard, _savior of the Galaxy_." 

 


	2. Chapter 2

_**\---Normandy---** _

After the call was ended, John went for his private terminal to read on the files Hackett had sent him. He was rather dumbfounded on this entire biotic-debate; the things he'd been reading were almost unbelievable, even for Ceberus standards.

Then again, after everything he'd witnessed, it would be naive _not_ to go along with the idea.

"Joker?" 

" _Yeah commander?_ "

"Set course for the Omega Nebula system." 

" _Alright. Relay jump in plus minus 2 hours. Should be there in 6_."

John nodded, although he realized Joker wouldn't be able to see it. He continued reading through his reports when he felt a hand on his shoulders. When he looked around and saw it was Kaidan he sighed and smiled in relief. _The rock that keeps me going._

  _And keeps me sane_ , he added in thought.

"What's going on, Shepard?" asked Kaidan when he noticed the swift change in his expression. 

John shook his head. "You.. You should read this. You're the biotic, not me." he finally said, as he moved to the side so Kaidan had better access to the terminal. Kaidan started reading, his lips quietly following the words as his eyes darted over the terminal. John noticed how Kaidan's expression turned to worry. He seemed to share his concerns.

"This.. is _sickening_ , Shepard. These people aren't some tools that can be picked up and used for experimenting. We all saw what happened at _Sanctuary_ —that can't happen again. I'll make sure of that. You'll make sure of that. We make sure of that." 

John smirked and licked his lips. "Oh but I _do_ love it when you go full justicar-rage mode." causing Kaidan to roll his eyes. "Ofcourse you do, _Commander_." he said, speaking the last word as if he was spelling it out for Shepard to remain professional, even though he loved it.

John coughed. "In all seriousness, I think you should be there with me. And Garrus. Apparently the girl and him have worked together a few times and know eachother." John explained, composing himself and returning his Commander-face. 

Kaidan nodded in agreement. "You should go talk to him."

************************************

John found Garrus on his old station, naturally, calibrating the guns. He was humming along with some unknown song as John stepped forward. "Shepard." Garrus murmured as a greeting while continuing his work. John smirked. "Garrus. A moment of your time?"

Garrus turned around and finally looked him in the eye. "Sure. What's up?"

The Commander hadn't thought it through any further—he didn't know the nature of his relationship to this woman. Perhaps he'd.. trigger something within his Turian friend by revealing their mission goal. 

He took the shot.

"We're off to Omega to find a woman. A shapeshifter by the name of Zira a'ghul. Do you know anything about her?" 

Garrus mandibles twitched at the mention of her name. He still wasn't sure about the similarities about Turian and human facial expressions, but he looked utterly shocked. 

" _Why_?" was the only response Garrus could muster, while he fiddled with his talons, almost human-like. 

"We need to find her. She's in danger; some secret group is abducting biotics with supernatural powers. Zira is next on the list. I've got a report and it said that you two.. were associated once. When you were still ArchAngel." John explained, deciding it was best to cut the crap and be straightforward about it. He counted Garrus among his closest friends who'd always believed in him and stood by him despite everything. Even when he was still running with Cerberus. Hell, where Kaidan had left him, Garrus had stayed regardless of the background story. 

The Turian heaved a sigh and dropped his gaze. " _Fair enough_. I know her, alright. We did some.. jobs together. She's something else. Holds her ground. Fights like a pro. Outstanding biotic control. Hell, I don't even know why she paired up with me in the first place. Something inside me says she did it just to humor me. And for the drinks."

John raised his eyebrows. "Were you two..?" 

When Garrus realized what he was hinting at he gasped. " _Spirits_ —no! Like I said, we shared some drinks and talked a bit. Look, Shepard. I can't really give you the full story. We trusted eachother at that time— it's not my place to tell you about her. I'll be happy to come along with you, however." 

Shepard thought about it for a moment and nodded. "I think that might just prove we're on the good side, and there to help her." 

 

_**\---Afterlife, Omega---** _

 

 _"Commander Shepard, savior of the Galaxy._ "   

 

Zira perched up and couldn't help but smirk — until she noticed the Turian standing behind him. Visor. Blue armor. _Garrus?_

"Aria, long time no see. Still on the throne, I see?" John said with a boyish grin, causing Aria to snort. 

"Of- _fucking_ -course. No one is getting in my way ever again. Now, what can I do for you?"

For some reason, Zira started to feel more and more uncomfortable in this man's presence. _Hell_ , it was the reason why Zira didn't acknowledge Garrus' presence either—she could feel his gaze linger on her form, while she was desperately trying to avoid the eyecontact.

"I'm looking for a shapeshifter who goes by the name of Zira. According to my reports, she should be hiding here somewhere." 

Zira swallowed and tried her best to remain invisible; the man sat down and leaned forward on his knees. _Real subtle, pal._

If this fucking guy is with... no, it can't fucking be. _Not Garrus._

Aria's form transformed into her iconic queen-lion position; she leaned forward towards him, a scowl on her face. Even Bray held his hand on his pistol; he didn't know Zira's ability, but now that Shepard had openly revealed her secret out loud, he suddenly realized why Aria was always so protective towards the younger woman.

Aria's dominance didn't go unnoticed by Shepard's party; the other guy he brought along was suddenly making contact with his own weapon, as he eyeballed Bray and Aria.

"And why would that be, _Shepard?_ " Aria wondered threateningly.

John leaned back and sighed. "She's in danger. We're here to bring her to safety. Some organisation has it out for her for some reason. I can send you the proof if you like. All the others before her are abducted to an unknown location, likely for some messed up experimenting. We suspect left-over Cerberus to be the perpetrator in this case." 

Zira flinched. Cerberus was looking for her.

Shepard had noticed her uncomfort. _Shit shit shit._

But instead, he continued, his speech a little louder as if he wanted to make sure she could hear everything.

"If she could come with us, we could offer her protection. We desperately need her help with this investigation and maybe.. she could join the team. Someone with her capabilities would be incredibly useful."

Zira snorted. _Running with the hero group? Not Fucking likely._

 _Although it's got a nice ring to it. It could be better than staying here_. Sure, she had enough fucking money, but she always had to stay lowkey hidden in the depths of this rotten station. 

"I also heard she's an excellent fighter and has a way with her biotics. A combat warrior. She would be an excellent asset to the Normandy." 

 _God_ fucking _damnit_ , will he quit already?  _Commander asskisser._ Garrus' doing, no doubt. 

She looked up at Garrus and he winked. Zira rolled her eyes in return.

"Well _commander_ , aren't you quick to pick up the stray? If she's a shapeshifter like you claim, why would she even need your protection? Seems like she has the ultimate tool to remain hidden." Aria said, still not letting down her guard, regardless of everything she went through with Shepard.

Zira sighed in defeat. Conflict was taking over. Stay here, or do something about that.. _bad shit_.. whatever it was they needed her for. 

Maybe she'd been taking to herself for too long.

"I'll give it a shot." Zira said out loud, voicing her final thoughts. Everyone looked up. Garrus offered her a cheeky grin, as far as a Turian could pull one off. Aria looked shocked at first, although it seemed as if she was immediately lost in thought. The strange man looked a bit distrustful at her; he offered caution. Zira could respect that, instead of this asshole Commander who casually offered her an unofficial employment without looking at her twice. For all he knew, she could be some mass murderer continuing her victims lives for her benefit.

 _Heh_. That was an idea she had to write down in case all of this went down southwards.

In front of her, Shepard looked at her with a pleasing smile. "Nice to know. I promise you won't regret your decision." 

Zira snorted. "We'll see about that, commander. If this proves out to be a mistake, I'm leaving." she said with raised eyebrows, causing the unknown stranger behind her to step up. Before he could speak however, Shepard raised his hand and shook his head. He looked back at Zira. "Understood." he said genuinely with a nod.

"Well, I guess I should tell you goodbye and all that shit?" Aria said with a huff as she stood up as well, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows at Zira. "I'm sure you'll manage. I'll come visit sometime — 'sides, I can always morph into the Commander and give myself shore leave if he won't let me." she joked, shuffling closer to Aria so she could give her a hug.  

"Yeah, we should probably talk about that." said the Commander dryly as he witnessed the moment. 

Aria and Zira seperated. The Asari queen sighed and shook her head before looking at her younger comrade. She pointed at her threateningly. " _Write_." 

Zira nodded with a cheesy smile. _She_ did _care._

 Then, Aria grabbed Shepard by the collar. "Not a finger laid on her, and if something happens to her I'll fucking kill you. Just so we're clear." she said casually before releasing him again. 

Shepard nodded. "Understood. She'll be safe." 

Zira snorted. "No offense, but I made it this far. I _think_ I'll manage." 

 


End file.
